1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to harvester head assembly for chopping, delimbing and cutting trees to predetermined lengths.
2. Related Art
In the modern logging industry, many logging companies utilize harvester heads, such as those sold under the mark Waratah®, attached to harvesters to chop, delimb and cut trees into logs of predetermined lengths in a very efficient manner. Typical harvester heads typically have a pair of delimbing knives; at least one saw and at least one feeding wheel. In operation, the arms of the harvester wrap around the trunk of a tree adjacent its base. Then, the at least one saw cuts the tree to separate it from the ground, and the harvester head lifts the remaining portion of the tree off of the ground. Next, the feeding wheels feed the sawed off portion of the tree through the harvester head by a predetermined distance while the delimbing knives simultaneously cut any limbs or branches off of the tree. After the feeding wheels have fed the sawed off portion of the tree by a predetermined distance, such as ten feet, the at least one saw is activated again to cut the fed length of tree into a pole with a predetermined length. This process may all be completed in a short period of time.
Harvester heads are typically optimized for certain tree sizes and types. For example, one type of harvester head might be optimized for hard wood trees of between 10-18 inches in diameter and another type of harvester head might be optimized for soft wood trees of between 6-10 inches in diameter. Additionally, typical harvester heads are only configured to work with certain types of harvesters.
As with harvester heads, harvesters come in various types and sizes. Light and medium duty harvesters typically include six total wheels whereas heavy duty harvesters typically include two continuous tracks (also known as caterpillar tracks) and two wheels. Wheeled harvesters may provide increased maneuverability as compared with tracked harvesters, whereas tracked harvesters may weigh more than wheeled harvesters and thus may be capable of lifting and processing relatively larger trees than wheeled harvesters.